Global Courant 2023-05-31 02:48:53
Everyone is excited that Ukrainian drones attacked a southern suburb of Moscow on May 30, but the excitement is much ado about nothing. Those drones caused little damage, according to Russian reports: there were no serious casualties; one building was temporarily evacuated as a precaution.
The drone strikes on Moscow were puny compared to massive Russian attacks on Ukraine the night before. According to reports from Russia about what happened in Moscow:
“A drone hit the upper floors of a residential building at 98 Profsoyuznaya Street. The facade and glazing of the house were destroyed. There were no casualties.”
“A drone also hit a 24-storey residential building on Atlasova Street. The facade and glazing of the upper floors were destroyed. There were no casualties.”
A UAV carrying three explosives flew into an apartment on the 14th floor of a building on Leninsky Avenue, but failed to detonate.
Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin said there were eight drones in total, five of which were shot down by the Pantsir air defense system and three jammed, causing them to spin out of control and hit the apartment buildings.
President Vladimir Putin had ordered Pantsir systems installed around Moscow last January. A Pantsir system was also installed in Putin’s summer residence in Sochi. Some of these installations are on rooftops, meaning the Pantsir vehicles have been removed for rooftop installations. Placing Pantsir on roofs significantly improves the field of vision in urban areas
There’s video from one of the Pantsir units shoot down a drone over Moscow. That drone exploded in a ball of fire when it was hit.
According to Moscow, the type of drone is new and produced by the Ukrainians. The Russians estimate that these drones have a long range and that the wings of the drone were on the drone body forward, so that the drone could carry more explosives.
Ukraine says it has nothing to do with the drone attack on Moscow. Ukrainian authorities also leaked that the drones were Chinese. Last year there were reports of some Chinese drones in Ukraine.
Most people who saw this attack viewed it as retaliation for the intense drone and missile attacks on Kiev. Simultaneously with the drone attack on Moscow, the Ukrainians stepped up shelling across the border areas towards Belgorod, hitting at least three settlements.
The real action, however, took place over Ukraine, where Russian drones and missiles bombarded Kiev and a number of other locations.
The map below (source: Rybar) shows the targets of the Russian attack on May 29:
The attack was heavy and apparently effective. There are reports that the US Patriot system was destroyed in Kiev. The Patriot system would be placed at Kiev Zhuliany Airport and also near the Kiev Zoo. Another location reportedly affected and possibly a Patriot site is the Vasylkiv Military Air Basewhich was previously destroyed by the Russians on March 12, 2022.
These messages have not yet been confirmed. Putin says tOne of the successful Russian attacks was on the building in Kiev that housed Ukrainian military intelligence. According to the Russian government’s RT outlet, a number of Ukrainian command centers were destroyed in these attacks across the country.
One of the main targets for the Russians was the 7th Tactical Airmobile Brigade, which is based on a military airfield near Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnitsky Territory. The location in Western Ukraine included Su-24M and Su-24MR fighter-bombers which was adapted by the UK for wear Stormy shadow cruise missiles.
Developed by the UK and France, the Storm Shadow is a low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile. It was designed by Matra BAe Dynamics. That company was formed in August 1996 by the merger of half of the missile business of Matra Defense of France and BAe Dynamics (a division of British Aerospace) of the UK. Today, Stormshadow is produced by MBDA missile systems. Stormshadow carries a 1,000 lb (450 kg) conventional warhead. The cost per rocket is $2.7 million.
Own goal? Darwin Award candidate?
A story doing the rounds says Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his British counterpart, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, have published a celebratory postcard featuring a photo of a Su-24 carrying the Storm Shadow cruise missile . However, a problem arose because the postcard in the top right corner also featured the insignia of the 7th Tactical Air Brigade, so that the Russians could know which aircraft the Storm Shadow had and where they were stationed.
On May 29, the Russians invaded the 7th Tactical Air Brigade Starokonstantinov. Five Su-24s were damaged or destroyed, and storage facilities for Storm Shadow missiles were hit in the Russian attack. It is not clear if this is the only Storm Shadow-equipped unit, but either way, the loss of the aircraft and missiles is a major blow to Ukraine.
Stormshadow Postcard Signed by Ben Wallace, UK Secretary of State for Defence. Photo: Twitter
The Russian attack was something—a big enough deal to, in the Bard’s words, cause “much a fuss.”
Stephen Bryen is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute. This article was originally published about his substack, weapons and strategy. Global Courant republishes it with permission.
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